Musical Inspiration Challenge 2! Part 9: The First Encounter

Wake the White Wolf by Miracle of Sound

This one is going to be a bit odd. Wake the White Wolf is a fantasy song. Maybe too much of one. I think one of the major strengths of Miracle of Sound is that he makes songs based on video games, or science fiction or fantasy shows, and their source material is usually immediately identifiable, but its not so obvious that they can only be appreciated that way.

Wake the White Wolf is supposedly inspired by the Witcher series. The white wolf in question being the protagonist of the Witcher, who during the video game series, is dealing with increasing age and weariness, but who still rouses himself again and again to do what he has to.

Anyway, our lyrics.

Torches of war under hatred's sails
A whisper of doom on a wary breeze
Scorching the shores in a blazing trail
Cinder and fume foul the air we breathe

Blood of fallen kings
Blades of chaos ring
Steel and silver sing
For justice

Keen to the scent, the hunt is my muse
A means to an end this path that I choose
Lost and aloof are the loves of my past
Wake the White Wolf!
Remembrance at last

Wake the White Wolf at the dawn of war
The end of the age is-a coming now

Sign of flame will sting
Punishment I bring
Steel and silver sing
For justice

Keen to the scent, the hunt is my muse
A means to an end this path that I choose
Lost and aloof are the loves of my past
Wake the White Wolf!
Remembrance at last

Wake the White Wolf at the dawn of war
The end of the age is-a coming now
Ravaging the rivers scorching the shores
Fires in the night the torches of war

WAKE THE WOLF
WAKE THE WHITE WOLF

Wake the White Wolf at the dawn of war
The end of the age is-a coming now

I’ve said before that encounters aren’t necessarily punchy-fighty stuff. Not every encounter involves beating on a given target. Climactic Encounters are moments when the heroes have to contend against something, and when that contention has an important outcome. As before I’m not going into the details of the players having to do stuff like deal with angry orderlies in the old folk home or sneaking past doorways. That stuff isn’t stuff that really needs to be plotted.

In this case, our first major encounter is one that’s massively important.

They have to convince the guy they need to get the information from, to not give up or give in.

In a way this can be social. It might end up a combat encounter though. Rousing a man from his old dreams and getting him to lift his creaky bones free of the madness and despair that surrounds.

This might require us to examine some of our earlier plans though. After all, if our first real climactic encounter has them find the guy, well, then they could just take him back, have him open the vault, point out the princeling, etc.

Alternatively, they could have to rescue him from the vile euthanasia of this hellish crapshack that he’s found himself in, and he might not be in the best place mentally or physically after wards, but that seems like a cheat to me.

So, hmm, how do we get the players to get the guy they need to rescue early developmentally, but still have an adventure?